Women banned from Olympic ski-jumping

[Orleander]

what is the thinking behind not letting women ski jump in the Olympics??

Women fight Olympic ski jump ban

World champion ski jumper Lindsey Van wants to compete in the Olympics
A group of international female ski jumpers has gone to a Canadian court to try to force the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics to include their events.

The British Columbia Supreme Court has begun hearing the discrimination case.

The 15 women accuse Vancouver's Olympic organisers of violating Canadian human rights law by excluding them, while men compete in three ski jumping events.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says women's ski jumping is not developed enough to merit inclusion.

The Vancouver Olympic organising committee (Vanoc) argues that the decision not to include women's ski jumping was made by the IOC, which as an international organisation is outside the jurisdiction of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Legal experts say the women must convince BC Supreme Court Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon that Vanoc is controlled by the government and should therefore be subject to the Charter.

Ski jumping is one of the few events at the Winter or Summer Olympics that doesn't have both a men's and women's competition.

"We're asking for a declaration that if Vanoc is going to hold these events in ski jumping for men, it's obligated to hold them for women," the lawyer for the women, Ross Clark, told CBC News before the hearing began.

"It just hurts not to have that opportunity," said women's world champion Lindsey Van of the US outside the courthouse in Vancouver.

"We train so hard, but the men are allowed in and we are not. It's very disappointing."

[Enmos]

Apparently they are just not good enough yet..

[Anti-Flag]

The thinking is that it's not a big enough crowd pull with enough competent competitors to make it worthwhile. I'm pretty sure the summer olympics do the same with various events.

[Orleander]

ah. They have World Championships, I wonder how many show up there.

[Orleander]

Apparently they are just not good enough yet..

VI is gonna kill you

[Enmos]

VI is gonna kill you

Why ? It's not my opinion, I don't know anything about Womens ski-jumping.
I just thought that that's what the article suggested. Anti's point makes more sense though.

[Orleander]

LOL, nice try. She's going to kill you

[Enmos]

LOL, nice try. She's going to kill you

lol You should work on that distrustfulness of yours.

[CutsieMarie89]

Why ? It's not my opinion, I don't know anything about Womens ski-jumping.
I just thought that that's what the article suggested. Anti's point makes more sense though.

I think the article suggested that there are not enough of them, not that they aren't good at what they do. I don't see what difference it makes. So some countries won't be represented, doesn't that happen all of the time in every event? As long as there are three women competing that should be enough.

[Enmos]

I think the article suggested that there are not enough of them, not that they aren't good at what they do. I don't see what difference it makes. So some countries won't be represented, doesn't that happen all of the time in every event? As long as there are three women competing that should be enough.

I don't know what the rules are. I know there are specific rules to be met for a sport to become an Olympic sport. Perhaps they view it as a new sport altogether (although that would be kind of strange).

[Anti-Flag]

ah. They have World Championships, I wonder how many show up there.

Lots of sports have world championships, even amateur ones. It doesn't mean the sport has any strength in depth or appeal on a large scale.
Like I said the summer olympics do the same with some sports, not to mention the distances for certain events vary depending on sex. There's a lot of it that isn't fair.


I bet it took a while for womens ice hockey to be included. That's because they suck at it though.

[chris4355]

If not enough people like it/watch it then it makes sense not to have it. This is most likely a business move rather than a sexist move on their part.

you don hear men complaining that theres no Mr. Universe contests televised... because people wont be as interested.

[CutsieMarie89]

If not enough people like it/watch it then it makes sense not to have it. This is most likely a business move rather than a sexist move on their part.

you don hear men complaining that theres no Mr. Universe contests televised... because people wont be as interested.

There are plenty of stupid sports in the summer Olympics that only 3 people cared enough or were to lazy to get up and turn watched. I thought it was like American Football, there aren't enough competitors.

[visceral_instinct]

That's sexist as hell. Lots of sports are obscure and don't have much of a following. They still feature in the Olympics. Look at utter crap like synchronized swimming, who the hell actually follows that?

How would it be if women made up a sport, spread it internationally and had it feature in the Olympics...and refused to let men participate? I'm sure we could make a case that this certain sport was not for men as it is specialized for a woman's lighter and thinner morphology.

We'd be called misandrists, man hating feminists, etc.

[Asguard]

um VI you mean like synchronized swimming? (i dont THINK men compeat in that) or netball in the commonwealth games?

Actually speaking of netball i would LOVE to find either a mixed or mens compertition because i love that sport (my partner thinks thats only because of the skirts but its not)

[visceral_instinct]

Men can't play netball?

Why?!?!?!

[visceral_instinct]

That sucks.

[Asguard]

Men can't play netball?

Why?!?!?!

because its a girls sport?
if you wish a social\psycological debate on WHY its a girls sport you could go down 2 related tracks, social stigmatisum of males who wish to play and female pressure to protect there preeminance in the sport

[visceral_instinct]

That's a pile of crap. Lobbing a ball through a ring is neither inherently masculine nor feminine.

Humans are stupid.

[chris4355]

Hows that different from men not wearing makeup?

there are gender cultural differences, no big deal its just the way it is, dude.